Overcoming Obstacles, Achieving Dreams

Meet the Blavin Scholars! In this video, the Blavin Scholar Graduates, Class of 2014, share their personal journeys that led them to the Blavin Scholars Program, through graduation from the University of Michigan, and on to post-graduate endeavors. The graduates capture that every Blavin Scholar has a unique pathway to and through not only foster care, but also the University of Michigan, and that the Blavin Scholars Program is there to partner with students throughout their college experience, from admission through graduation.

“I remember coming to this campus for the first time and just being completely amazed by everything that I saw and right at that instance I knew that I wanted to be a Wolverine. I had to come to this college.”

“It was a moment I thought I wasn’t going to finish high school, I wasn’t going to make it, but I knew that I had to keep moving. I was determined to come to Michigan, so I did it.”

“I realized that I don’t have to allow the circumstances to define what I will become... And now reflecting back on the entire journey and seeing how much of a privilege, and how lucky I got to be here...How lucky I got to have the mentorship to have people encourage me along the way, to have financial assistance when I got to Michigan.”